Manchester City's Premier League title celebrations draw crowds

Thousands of Manchester City fans have gathered in the city's Albert Square to celebrate the club winning the Premier League.

City clinched the title with a win over West Ham United at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

The celebrations saw highlights from the season screened before the team showed off the trophy to fans.

An open top bus then took the players through Peter Street, Deansgate and Exchange Square.

Before the team appeared, comedian Jason Manford took to the stage and held his mobile phone aloft, leading the crowd in a Manchester City song to be left on fellow comedian and Liverpool fan John Bishop's voicemail.

Vincent Kompany and Joe Hart lifted the Premier League trophy and the League Cup for the crowd

Speaking about the close finish, which saw City win the league by two points, captain Vincent Kompany told the crowd that the team "always believed".

"We did it in style and that's what I liked about it."

Teammate Pablo Zabaleta said it had been "a great season".

"We played attractive football, we were an attacking team and scored lots of goals."

'Headquarters of football'

Transport for Greater Manchester tweeted that the road closures meant there was heavy congestion near the Museum of Science and Industry.

Manchester councillor Pat Karney said the title win showed Manchester was "the world headquarters for football".

He said "up to 100,000 people" were expected to attend the parade, which would be "one of the biggest we've ever had in the city".

He added that the parade had been arranged after the team's win on Sunday.

"We never talked about it until the final whistle. Nothing was planned before."

Councillor Pat Karney said "up to 100,000 people" were expected to attend the parade

The title win is the team's second in three years and comes two months after they beat Sunderland to win the League Cup.